Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 24 March 2016

Trapped in Greece; human rights defenders silenced in Sudan; a historic war crimes verdict at The Hague; detainees denied rights in Iran; unfair charges in Bahrain; losing the War on Drugs and no compensation for Chad victims.

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Former Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, has been found guilty and sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the Srebrenica genocide and other grave crimes. This sentence finally serves justice for the victims of those crimes, and serves a stark warning to all architects of mass atrocities: justice will find you.
Thousands of asylum seekers and migrants at the Athens port of Piraeus face appalling conditions as the crisis for people trapped in Greece due to border closures intensifies, Human Rights Watch said today. Poor organization, scarce resources, as well as lack of information, anxiety, and fear about the new European Union-Turkey deal, are contributing to insecurity and suffering.
Sudanese security forces have used sexual violence, intimidation, and other forms of abuse to silence female human rights defenders across the country. In a new report, Human Rights Watch documented more than a dozen cases in which security officials raped or threatened to rape women activists.
Iran should remove restrictions on access to lawyers for people charged with national security crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
Bahraini authorities should immediately release human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja. Police detained al-Khawaja on March 14, 2016, to serve five sentences totalling three years and one month, four of which violate her right to free expression and one of which resulted from an unfair trial.